by Mark Tufo
“Mostly.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as we pushed through the dense brush.
“There are nomadic people all along the old US-Canadian border.”
“Just trying to survive,” I said with chagrin.
“Much like we are.”
“Yeah, but we’re the ones doling out the death.”
“Michael, these people out here would do the same to us. They are a self-sufficient lot, that’s for sure, but they will prey on anything and anybody that gets within their grasp.”
“That supposed to make me feel better?”
“It is what it is. Men as well as vampires are predators, at least they are not so helpless as the deer you fell with your rifle.”
“You keep bringing that up. Are you gonna make me feel bad about that, too?”
“No, I’m just trying to make a point,” he said with an edge of anger. “I’m about to do something I’m not sure if you will appreciate or not.”
He never even gave me an opportunity to respond as he raised his right hand up to the side of my head, he placed the flat of his palm against my temple. And like a switch, literally, he shut off my humanity. My id, my ego, my super ego, rational thoughts just gone, vanished. I became the animal I was. No feelings of guilt, pain, remorse, I was a basic being. Hungry, and on a hunt. My fangs shot down, my blood quickened with the thought of food. I was aware of Tommy, but not as a friend, he was in my pack, and he was there to make our chances of success more likely. Although, at the time, it was merely pictures in my head, eat or not eat. With him...eat, without him...not eat.
My senses dominated, I could smell individual leaves – don’t ask, I can’t explain that one. My eyes were primed; looking simultaneously for prey and for any threats. My ears twitched with the slightest movements. If ants had been my t haokinarget, they would have been screwed as I could even hear them scrabble across the hard earth. Time meant nothing as we passed quietly through the woods. Ever-looking, ever-listening.
The moon was on the far side of being done for the night. Embers burned dully in the campfire as we approached. I did not see male, female, old, young – I saw food. The being guarding the fire scarcely had time to raise his weapon as my hunting partner descended upon him. I lusted to feed with him, but the hunt was far from over as a cry of alarm issued from another being. I ripped its throat out, not thrilling in the triumph, I was merely content that I was feeding.
An arrow tore at the shoulder of my jacket. I spun. My eyes narrowed as I took in the being holding the weapon. I dropped the food I had been holding, the being with the weapon turned and fled and I was upon it before it could leave the small clearing it had bedded down in for the night.
We both drank our fill and then, when we were full, we gorged. It was the way of the animal; feast or famine, and I was saving up for the leaner times. The bodies were husks when we finished. I tossed mine to the side like I would an old dinner plate. It meant nothing more to me than that. The sun was making its presence known as I followed Tommy away from the feeding grounds. He led us to a small stream. We stepped in and I drank greedily, the ice-cold water a nice respite from the hot blood as it was washed down the metallic taste of the iron-rich food.
I was aware – but not wary – as my hunting partner approached me. I watched as his hand went to the side of my head. I fell to my knees as everything I was flooded back into me.
“Don’t think too much about it,” Tommy said.
I could barely hear him over the rush of thoughts in my head. It was like a great wall had been erected between the man and the animal, and when it was torn down, it was difficult assimilating the two distinct halves into one cohesive unit.
It’s impossible to put to words how I felt at that point. When I had been operating as a pure predator I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced life in a more unpolluted form. I truly believe that was the way life was meant to be lived. Not racked with guilt, self-doubt, psychoses, neuroses, and any other fucking oses. It really did come down to eat or starve, live or die. That was life. Water flowed around my outstretched arms as they held me firmly rooted in place to the small river-bed. I plunged my head into the near ice water, but even that couldn’t break the fog that clouded me.
“What happened?” I finally asked.
“You know what happened,” Tommy said, being less than forthcoming. “You wouldn’t have done it. And the stakes are too high. I did what I had to do.”
“I’ve said those words before.” I stared at my flowing, distorted reflection in the water. “Rarely is it good.”
“I’m sorry, Mike.”
On one level…I was pissed. Sure, who wants to be manipulated that damn easily? On the other…HOLY FUCKING SHIT what an experience! I would, on some level, grieve for those that we had killed the previous evening – that was the man-side, the animal-side was…what? Not thrilled, not any real human emotion really. Fulfilled? We had survived. And really not even that. Life just was, and death was just as much a part of that. There was no baggage tied to it.
My body thrummed as we headed back into Wheatonville. I could feel every ripple of muscle, every hair as it was stirred by my movement. I was definitely switched on high. It was the morning of the war moon. Most of the town’s inhabitants looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here. Some had talked with ardor about sending their kids to another town for sanctuary. There really wasn’t a point. It was a good chance Xavier was going to strike here, but it wasn’t like he had given us his playbook. There were at least a half-dozen places he could strike. Sending the children off was just as likely to endanger them as keeping them here.
What I’ll remember the most about that day is there was no laughing; no kids running around screaming and playing. No jokes made or played. I was in a strange place, and everyone around me was in dreadful expectation. I was in an exuberant anticipation. If this thing didn’t happen, there might be hell to pay. Tommy and I had sparred some in the late afternoon to try and burn off some jitters, but I was having a difficult time ‘play’ fighting, and he thought it best if we stopped before I got hurt.
Bailey was setting up her gunmen at the choke point to the city, creating an effective crossfire. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough bullets to keep up a sustained rate of fire. They were surrounded by at least ten men on either side, some had swords, most had deadly-looking farm implements. Who knew tending the earth produced so many dangerous looking items; it was no wonder farmers seemed always able to survive against all odds. Lords knew they’d be tested this evening.
I didn’t see Azile until the sun was nearly down. “And so it begins,” she said to me.
She was wearing a long flowing red dress, one I had yet to see. She looked magnificent and fierce. Her head was hooded and her eyes half closed as if she was summoning more power from whichever well she dipped into. Bailey was on my right and Tommy immediately behind me, the sounds of him sharpening his sword about the only thing making noise. We were in between the day birds retreating for the night and the myriad of night creatures producing their symphony.
It was in those final few moments I knew that Xavier had set his sights on us. War produces its own climate. A low pressure system to be sure.
“How much time do we have until the moon rises?” I asked no one in particular.
“Fifty-two minutes,” Azile replied.
“Tommy?” I asked.
“Mike?” He asked back.
“This is less than savory, and those people are innocents, at least for the next fifty-one minutes and change.”
“What are you saying?” Bailey asked.
“I’m saying we bring the fight to them for a little while. We could inflict some serious damage to these people before they change into werewolves,” I said it and I almost couldn’t believe I had. It was true, they were innocents dragged kicking and screaming into a war they wanted nothing to do with. As soon as they changed, though, all bets were off. They would kill us all without blin
king, and maybe those that survived until the morning w ththey wanould feel sorrow, but by then it would be entirely too late. Add in that they would be once again used in some other place to destroy yet another populace.
Tommy stood, he knew the implications.
“You just want to go butchering those people?” Bailey asked.
“No, Bailey, I don’t…I really fucking don’t.” I could have gone into a further explanation, but she knew as well as I did what was going on.
“What about the Lycan?” Azile asked. “Surely they’re not going to let you waltz on in and kill their charges.”
“What they don’t know can kill them,” I said. I tried my best to hide the savage smile that was tugging at the corners of my mouth.
“I’m in,” Tommy said.
“I cannot leave,” Azile said. “I have spells running and I cannot break the circle.”
“Damn you, Talbot,” Bailey said, checking her pockets for her magazine. She quickly fixed her rifle with a bayonet. “I’m in.”
“You are more and more like BT,” I told her. “Although I never really wanted to kiss him. Wait…that’s a lie…there was this one time.”
“You would have had a much easier time kissing him,” she said hotly.
“Probably.” I stepped back, hoping far enough away from her reach with the pointy end of her weapon before I finished speaking. “But you’re staying here.”
“I go where I will.”
“You need to stay with your men, Bailey. Tommy and I can move faster and quieter,” I told her; anger was threatening to break out of her like a disturbed rattler den.
Azile reached up and placed her hand on Bailey’s shoulder. “He’s right.”
I didn’t wait for a response or for them to work it out. More than likely, Bailey would shoot me in the foot and then ask ‘Who’s quicker now?’ Add to that we were rapidly running out of time. I’d wished I’d thought of the damn fool idea earlier. But then again… no I didn’t.
“You want...?” Tommy began to ask, reaching up to my temple.
“No, I at least owe it to them to be cognizant of their passing.”
We moved quickly off to the left where the tree line was less than twenty yards away. I didn’t get the sense we had been seen; then again, I probably wouldn’t know until a razor-tipped claw took a swing at me. We hadn’t gone more than a couple of hundred yards into the woods when I picked up the scent. I looked over to Tommy. He nodded morosely. He knew, too, they were just up ahead.
We approached slowly, making sure that we were downwind. We might have heightened senses, but the advantage of smelling stuff clearly went to the Lycan. People littered the ground, they seemed to all be tied together, with hands bound behind their backs, and a heavy rope tied on a leg from one to the other like a chain gang. The rope would hold the humans, but I had no doubt it would shred like twine when they turned. My stomach roiled; this would be worse than shooting at fish in a barrel. They were defenseless and couldne hand I had t even run away. Gorge was ever threatening. I was busy concentrating on keeping it down when Tommy pressed me flat to the ground.
A group of Lycan was on the far side of us talking amongst themselves – their captives a human shield between us. I watched as one stood and looked around. He seemed to sense something, but I’ve got to imagine with that many people around, it was making it extremely difficult for him to differentiate other scents. The five of them broke up, four of them moving away. Most likely to where their people were staged.
“Any chance if we kill him, these people will be spared?” I asked.
“There’s no way to know if he turned them all or if they’ve already seen their first moon.”
“Damn rules,” I mumbled. “He’s coming,” I intoned softly.
He was wary; he knew something was going on out there. He stalked around the side of his people who tried to push out of his way as quickly as possible. Those that did not he kicked at savagely, snapping more than a few ribs.
“You mangy humans aren’t worthy of Lycan blood!” he roared when his foot got tangled up in one of the ropes. He stomped down mercilessly, pushing the man into the dirt. By the time he was through, what was left of the man was nearly level with the surrounding ground. Viscera, gore, brains, blood, bile, and bone coated all those who were unfortunate enough to be next to the unlucky soul.
He was coming around towards us, his attention still on the people. I pushed up off the ground, a boy maybe twelve years old saw me as I did so; he gasped as his eyes got wide. The noise attracted the Lycan.
“No noise!” the handler said loudly.
I sprang, maybe I had a twig underfoot, maybe it was the whip of a branch that had caught as I went by – something got his attention. I was in midflight when he turned, his eyes widened much like the boy’s had. My sword caught him mid-throat, he was strangling on his blood. Well…that and the steel that was cutting through his air pipe. And still the beast was outstretching his arms trying to get at me. When he realized I was out of reach, he started to drive the sword further into himself pulling me in with it.
Tommy was right behind me widening the gap I had started. The Lycan sagged to his knees with two swords in its throat. His eyes began to close and I placed the heel of my boot against its face, pushing him away. He fell heavily onto his side.
“Fuck,” I muttered. Looking at the faces around me, some were completely downtrodden others were hopefully.
“Are you going to get us out of here, mister?” the boy who had almost given me away asked.
“He can’t,” a toothless old man next to him said.
“Just cut the ropes,” another said. “We’ll leave!”
“I’ve lost my taste for this,” I told Tommy. “The Lycan was worth it, not the rest.”
“Taste or not, Mike, any little bit we can do here makes it worthwhile. Each one of these people has the potential to kill five before the night is through.”
Tommy raised his sword, the toothless man stuck his neck out, as the rest shirked away, scrambling to leave thig tze=s latest horror.
“I welcome it,” the man said. “The changing is among the most painful things I have ever endured and I am a man long past my prime or usefulness.”
“I will make it swift, old man,” Tommy said.
I turned as the blade whistled through the air. I might not have seen it, but it was impossible to not hear his head roll away. The lost souls here were terrified, but did nothing. They seemed to realize their fate, or their spirit had been beaten out of them with the time they had spent among the Lycan. In all honesty, we were doing them a favor; unfortunately the truth of the matter sucked to high heaven.
“Wait,” I told Tommy before he could strike again.
“The moon is almost upon us,” he said.
I was vaguely aware his chest was heaving, not from the exertion, but of the blood spilled. It was like a man dying of thirst in an ocean, water everywhere and not a drop could we touch. I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen if we drank from this well, but I could smell the taint of it from where I stood.
“We wait. Some of these people were surely this Lycan’s victims. If even one of them can run away from this, then it will have been worth it. We strike as they begin their change.”
“That puts us in exponentially more danger,” he told me needlessly. Might as well have told me that eating a Half-Pounder with cheese and bacon everyday would make me fat, I got it.
In a strange turn of events, we had become these captives’ keepers, and ultimately we were going to be a harsher warden. Night was descending quicker than I cared for in the dark of the woods. I couldn’t see the moon as it was hidden from our view, but its hypnotic pull began to work on those around us. Adults and children alike began to sprout whiskers, ears began to elongate, clothes tore, screams ripped through the woods as the people were put through torturous transformations. Tommy and my swords sang as we chopped through the sea of what was once humanity. The bodies were t
wisted into painful contortions as the virus worked its way through their systems.
“Going to be in trouble soon, Mike,” Tommy said, wet with sweat.
I had just pulled my sword out of the midsection of woman – she howled more than screamed. Her snout snapped at me. I was moving faster, slicing and slashing, body parts fell like a diseased rain. I noticed a few people who were huddling close to the ground seemingly unaffected by the moon. I was trying to fight my way to them, they were surrounded by werewolves who were in various states of transition. It was also becoming increasingly difficult to kill them as they moved through their metamorphosis. I knew I wasn’t going to be quick enough. Heavy rope was beginning to tear, cries of anguish rapidly changing to growls of aggression, and still I moved quickly, my sword blurring into and through those around me. Tommy was lost in a sea of fur and gristle.
I wasn’t going to make it.
“We’ve got to go!” Tommy shouted. One of the first times I’d truly heard him sound alarmed.
“I know.”
I struggled to get out. It was kids – it’s always kids. They were huddled together looking to each other to protect against what was coming.
“Ahhhh!” I yelled as I felt a claw rake against my back.
I turned and swung, the force bringing my blade nearly halfway into the beast behind. I pulled the sword back, intestines spilling to the ground. I caught an elbow to the head, nearly rocking me to the ground. Now it wasn’t so much about would I be able to get to the kids to save them, but would I be able to fight my way out to safety.
“I’m sorry,” I said hollowly as I turned.
Tommy was moving closer.
“Mr. T!”
“Yup!” I answered. Not really sure what else I could say. I did my best not to look when I heard the high-pitched screams of the lost. “Damn you, Xavier.”
Tommy grabbed my shoulder and was almost rewarded with the business end of my weapon. He was dragging me behind him, and I was still cutting and trying to make sure we could get out of there.
“Run!” Tommy yelled as we broke free. I needed no further prompting.